West Haven residents in area of proposed Haven North development get letter warning of eminent domain

Group says residents should stay alert for The Haven North

Published 6:57 pm, Thursday, January 14, 2016

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Operator Andrew Sprague, left, and assistant Robert Jackson from Aquifer Drilling & Testing Inc. of Newington take soil samples using a Geoprobe on April 9, 2015, as part of the environmental cleanup of the 4.17-acre 105 Water St. and 1.45-acre 16 Elm St. properties in West Haven. less

Operator Andrew Sprague, left, and assistant Robert Jackson from Aquifer Drilling & Testing Inc. of Newington take soil samples using a Geoprobe on April 9, 2015, as part of the environmental cleanup of the ... more

Photo: FILE PHOTO

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From left, West Haven Mayor Ed O’Brien, Developer Sheldon Gordon of Greenwich and real estate investor Ty Miller of Dallas in June 2014.

From left, West Haven Mayor Ed O’Brien, Developer Sheldon Gordon of Greenwich and real estate investor Ty Miller of Dallas in June 2014.

Photo: Mara Lavitt — New Haven Register File Photo

West Haven residents in area of proposed Haven North development get letter warning of eminent domain

“Your neighbors in the footprint of The Haven South, who have joined together to form Develop Don’t Destroy West Haven, have already been threatened with eminent domain,” said the letter from DDDWH and the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Justice, which is working with it.

“If the city can threaten eminent domain to acquire their properties, there is no reason why they won’t try to do the same to your property,” reads the letter.

“It is important that you ask questions NOW to ensure that eminent domain is not similarly authorized for The Haven North,” the letter reads. “We are reaching out to you now to make sure that you are aware of the city’s potential plans.”

Two sets of residents attended the City Council meeting Monday night to ask about it, including Thompson Street resident Virginia Maselli, who wanted to know whether what the letter said was true.

But while the letter also included copies of an email and a proposed “MDP Boundary” map that suggest that the proposed Haven North project area had been expanded from an original 16.45 acres to about 51.5 acres, representatives of the city and the developer both said that, as of right now, all of their efforts are focused on The Haven South.

“As far as I understand it ... I think they’re focusing their time on The Haven South right now,” said O’Brien. “I think right now, they’re focusing their efforts on getting The Haven South up and built.

“Nobody wants to take anybody’s property,” he said, calling the use of eminent domain “an absolute last choice.”

But “when all’s said and done and this group goes away, and let’s say the project doesn’t get done, they’re going back where they came from and we’re going to have to live with it,” O’Brien said.

Armstrong said, right now, “there are no plans for The Haven North. ... We haven’t submitted anything.”

That’s not to say that “someday” the developer might not do something there, “but for the time being, we have not submitted any plans,” he said.

“It’s all part of the planning process. There’s nothing that’s been decided,” said city Commissioner of Planning and Development Joseph Riccio Jr. “It’s a conversation that’s taking place.

“I’ve had some people call my office, and I’ve talked to them about it, and I think it’s premature to think that their property is being acquired,” he said. “Nothing has been approved, nothing has been vetted, nothing has been applied for.”

Among the documents the Institute for Justice sent to residents was an Oct. 27, 2015, email from Riccio to several others on the project team, stating, “The Developer has stated that they would like to (see) the MDP approved by the end of January 2016.”

Brooke Fallon, activism manager for the Institute for Justice, said the information in the letter came from city documents that the organization obtained through a Nov. 16 request under the Freedom of Information Act. The city responded on Dec. 29, she said.

“I’m not drawing any conclusions about the development,” Fallon said. “What we did want to do was to get in touch with the residents now to tell them that even though this is just a proposed map, their properties are on it.

“We don’t know what the city’s timeline is for discussing this project and this map, but we think it’s important for residents whose properties are in the proposed footprint and map to know that their properties are in the proposed footprint and maps.

The developer in November put the number of stores in The Haven’s initial phase at “60 of the highest-end luxury outlet retail tenants,” along with eight restaurants, a public promenade along the waterfront and “a food lab that will make the old-school food court a thing of the past.”

The city previously has said The Haven would create 800 full-time and 1,000 part-time jobs and generate more than $3 million in annual tax revenue for the city. Officials also have said the project would include a 200-seat amphitheater.

The state House and Senate have approved Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s request to provide up to $30 million in tax increment financing for the project through bonds that the developer will pay back through the additional sales tax the project produces, according to the city.

Developers Sheldon Gordon and Ty Miller chose West Haven “for its proximity to high-traffic corridors and its ease of getting to and from I-95,” the developers have said.

Gordon and Miller have proposed to build the $200 million, 347,826-square-foot waterfront development project in two phases, with about 100 stores if both phases ultimately are built.